A List of Good IEMs (In Ear Monitors), Canal Phones, In-Ear Phones

[dfkt]

Added French high-end IEMs EarSonics to the list.

[CrowdAds]

[ZenChick]

Has anyone tried the Zen Aurvanas? If so, are they worth the price, and how do they compare with others in that price range?

[dfkt]

Common opinion is that they're overpriced crap... very badly rolled off treble, very compressed soundstage.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...hlight=aurvana
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...hlight=aurvana
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...hlight=aurvana

[ZenChick]

Thanks. I guess I'll save my money and get a set of EP-630 or EP-640's instead.

[dfkt]

Better spend a little more cash and get the CX300 or V-Moda Bass Fréqs if you want bass heavy sound. Or the V-Moda Vibes if you want excellent clarity and crispness with less bloated bass.

[Aardvark]

Ok I have had my CX300 for a week now and I am happy with the bass and the having something stuck in my ear.

What do I upgrade to in order to have

Bass
Separation
Timing and musicality
Detail and clarity
Soundstage
Isolation tank level cut off from the outside world.

I need it to be way better than my SR60 in the above attributes.

Basicaly which IEM will come near my home Linn system when used with my Zen on planes 'n' trains, and then probably replace my SR60 for home use as well.

ps, can I have the moon on a stick as well?

[saminmemphis]

IEM phones. I had the earbuds that clip onto your ear and they sucked and thankfully, my dog chewed them. They came with my Koss CD player. I have a Sansa on order and wanna use the player for some running, at the beach, sitting at a football game to get play-by-play, and to go to sleep with them and cut the yard.

IEM's ok for this sort of stuff? I hate the sports earbuds that go sideways in your ears that Sony gives out with the armband Walkman. I was thinking of the earphones that clip around your ear, sort of like headphones.

Please feel free to make suggestions. I think the Sennheiser 300CX seem good, and would love to score some cheaply on ebay. If you know a good seller, PM me. OR if there are some that are abotu as good at a good deal, also will consider those.

Sam

[WesleyH]

Was at Fry's today looking at IEMs, and among the ones they had were a couple that I had not seen listed here at all: JBL Reference 220's & Harman-Kardon IEM's, about 3 different levels, rather pricey (cannot remember the model #'s at the moment), but right on the box it said 'featuring technology from Etymotics', which makes me think they might just be some rebranded Ety's.

Has anyone had a chance to try any of these out? I know JBL and its parent company, HK, make some pretty darn good stuff, and the JBL's are priced right ($79), but I did not buy them.

Can someone who has had any experience with these add their $.02 ? thx

[Aardvark]

No experience but found this full review on line

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ipod/review/9153/

Bottom line

Bass heavy and not as accurate or clean as the ER6i which are this chaps reference units

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by Aardvark

Ok I have had my CX300 for a week now and I am happy with the bass and the having something stuck in my ear.

What do I upgrade to in order to have

Bass
Separation
Timing and musicality
Detail and clarity
Soundstage
Isolation tank level cut off from the outside world.

I need it to be way better than my SR60 in the above attributes.

Basicaly which IEM will come near my home Linn system when used with my Zen on planes 'n' trains, and then probably replace my SR60 for home use as well.

ps, can I have the moon on a stick as well?

Would you like fries with that?

Your best bet would be the Shure E500 - it's one of the few IEMs that's said to have a soundstage at all. Not even the $900 UE10 has a decent soundstage.

The Etymotic ER-4 would be good in most points, too, except for bass and soundstage. But it'd be a lot cheaper than the E500.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by WesleyH

Was at Fry's today looking at IEMs, and among the ones they had were a couple that I had not seen listed here at all: JBL Reference 220's & Harman-Kardon IEM's, about 3 different levels, rather pricey (cannot remember the model #'s at the moment), but right on the box it said 'featuring technology from Etymotics', which makes me think they might just be some rebranded Ety's.

Has anyone had a chance to try any of these out? I know JBL and its parent company, HK, make some pretty darn good stuff, and the JBL's are priced right ($79), but I did not buy them.

Can someone who has had any experience with these add their $.02 ? thx

I've seen the JBL "IEMs" in stores, they're open design, from what I've seen, like the Bose IE phones. Meaning, they don't isolate you from any outside noise. Other than that I don't know anything about them.

If you go for rebranded Etys, best stick with the Altec Lansings, people seem to like them mostly, and the price/value ratio seems ok.

[Aardvark]

Thanks DFKT

Great reply

So it lloks like when I go the great US of A on my holidays I will be looking for

ER-4

E500

What about ER6i

Cheers

Edit

Hang on I have just looked up the E500, they cost £400 on line.....................OMG

[t-nine]

I really liked the buds that came with my T9... Good list dfkt...

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by Aardvark

Hang on I have just looked up the E500, they cost £400 on line.....................OMG

Yup... may I quote you: "Basically which IEM will come near my home Linn system..." - well, the E500s are the ones you're looking for, I'm pretty sure about that. Sorry about your wallet!

The Ety ER-4 are far behind in your requirements, since they really don't have any reasonable bass and no soundstage. Etys also are pretty unconfortable, IMO.

If you think about a good phone in the ER-6 price class ($100), I'll preach the same that I did ever since I wrote the review: the V-Moda Vibe beats the ER-6 in every aspect (except isolation) - bass, musicality, listening fun, comfort, build quality. The Vibes even have a slightly wider soundstage than any other IEM I know of (except the E500, of course). Hope you read my review on the front page...

[Aardvark]

Yes I have.

I liked the way that you pick out a recommended in each price range.

I never realised but on looking the AKG looks like another EP630/ CX300/ MD33 shell.

I am going to join Head Fi as you recommended.


Yes, you did take me at my word regarding my Linn. I suppose over the years I have spent around £3,500 on my Linn by buying a mix of new, ex dem, pre loved, and to replace it all today with new as opposed to Ebay would cost me closer to £5000. In that respect £400 is only 10%. However I only paid £180 for my ZVM and £400 for tiny IEMs takes a lot of justifying.

You know you stuff and so If I come up on the Lottery I will demo a pair, but failing that I am going to find somewhere to let me listen to some V-moda

May I just also add my comments that this is a top thread and you have done a terrific job of answering posts and helping people get the best from their pocket money, wages, presents etc.

[dfkt]

Thanks mate, glad I could help.

Be careful over at Head-Fi... being a member there cost me about $600 since early 2005. (Don't forget to buy a matching headphone amp while you're at it, heh.)

Hope you can demo the E500s - would be a bit much to buy a phone in this class blindly. But with the Vibes for less than $100 you can't go wrong, IMO.

I don't find it hard justifying phones that are more expensive than the players they're attached to. Heck, I use $250 Beyerdynamics with my $240 iAudio, and $200 Ultimate Ears with my $130 Nintendo DS... after all, it's the speakers that make the sound, moreso than the DAC. (IMO)

Yup, seems like AKG too jumped the China-OEM-phone train... if I get the chance I'll try those K324s.

BTW, I love the general sound of "Brit-Fi"... thinking about getting me some nice Mordaunt Short speaker for my studio. Already had Missions and Tannoys in use, which are very well sounding, too. But Linn I just know by admiring them from far away.

Oh yeah, I swear by Goldring UK needles for my Pro-Ject turntable...

[Aardvark]

http://www.mordauntshort.com/product...D=18&Title=914

My eldest son has these and we have compared them with my Linns. We paid £190 for them and they are very revealing. Crystal clear treble and a punchy forward bass. Very musical but the benefit from good components upstream.

The sound stunning on the end of my Linn gear and they still sound sweet as a nut on the end of a Philips DVD ( yes a DVD used as as CD transport) and the Cambridge Audio AV 504R run in two channel stereo mode. Total cost of this system was less than £550 and I could listen to it all day without any trouble.

We have added aroung 4kg of Atabites into each ballast port to tie them down on the spikes.

Of course with speakers, the biggest impact on how they sound is the room that you put them in.

On the Linn front, there is a lot of good stuff used on Ebay which generally goes for about half of new price. Linn offer a back up second to none and still keep spares and will do mods and upgrades on their kit for years after they have stopped producing them new. Gosh I am staring to sound like a Linn Fanboy

ps if you want to talk Brit-Fi or indeed World -Fi with genteel and polite peeps

http://forum.hifichoice.co.uk/

[dfkt]

Heh, the Avant 906 is what I've been toying with... they should go well with my Klipsch subwoofer and my Marantz amp. They're meant to replace Polk RT5 monitors, since I changed my setup from near-field to whole-room.

I love their resolution, been testing them for about two, three hours - and didn't hear anything in that price range that worked for my ears equally well.

[Aardvark]

Superb!!! They look like the bigger brother to the 914

You won't need the sub for stereo, it will only slow the MS down.

We have a 100w Mission sub with aluminium driver with adjustable crossover and gain levels. For stereo use my lad switches it off, only needing it for 5.1 and DVDs

The MS punch well above their weight for top end clarity and bass kick.

Load the ballast ports and get em locked to the floor.

Should go very well with a Marantz amp.

Cheers for now

I am off out to a friends house for food, drink and laughs, it is new years eve after all.

See you next year and thanks again

[dfkt]

Great, have a nice one - I'm off for the party, too!